The following article originally appeared on an earlier iteration of See Page XX in February 2008. Media composer James Semple has created some musical stings for use with Trail of Cthulhu. James has worked with Cthulhu before (in a manner of speaking), creating the intro to the excellent Yog Radio, and he composed a Trail of […]
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As we enter the fifth month of lockdown, gaming continues to develop online. We recently attended (the first?) Gen Con Online, and were surprised by how busy it was – our panels will be appearing on our YouTube channel shortly. We’ve also reconnected with our friends at the Bundle of Holding to offer the Compleat […]
New Releases Swords of the Serpentine: The Adventurer’s Edition pre-order – A GUMSHOE sword & sorcery game of daring heroism, sly politics, and bloody savagery, set in a fantasy city rife with skullduggery and death. Pre-order now and get a limited edition colour print map of Eversink. Honey & Hot Wax – An Erotic Art Games […]
Mythos Investigation and Horror in the 1930s
You have to keep the doors to the Outside from swinging open – no matter what the cost in life or sanity. You have to piece together clues from books bound in human skin, from eviscerated corpses covered in ichor, and from inscriptions carved on walls built before humanity evolved. You have to go wherever the answers are, and do what needs to be done to protect humanity. But do you dare to follow… the trail of Cthulhu?
Trail of Cthulhu is an award-winning roleplaying game of investigative horror, powered by the GUMSHOE system and produced under license from Chaosium. Acclaimed expert on the eldritch Kenneth Hite weds his encylopaedic knowledge of vivid historical detail to his mastery of H. P. Lovecraft’s classic horror tales to bring their cosmic malignity forward into the 1930s—a time when the creeping madness of the Great Old Ones intermingles with the sweeping cruelty of global totalitarianism.
Trail of Cthulhu is designed for investigative play: the challenge is in interpreting clues, not finding them. The game also offers:
- Two modes of play: Pulp (for the “desperate action” feel of Robert E. Howard or Indiana Jones) and Purist (full of philosophical horror and cosmic dread)
- A new take on Lovecraft’s creatures and cults that makes even the most familiar Mythos elements surprising and scary at the gaming table
- Innovative rules for sanity and stability
- A Drives mechanic that addresses the perennial horror RPG question, “Why don’t we just forget we saw anything, and go home where it’s safe?”
- GM advice on how to run a horror adventure
- Detailed notes on designing an enthralling, cohesive investigative adventure using the GUMSHOE system’s clue structure.
Trail of Cthulhu won two ENnie awards for Best Rules and Best Writing, as well as receiving an honourable mention for Product of the Year. It’s now in its third print run, and currently available in five languages.
Support for Trail of Cthulhu includes award-winning adventures, supplements, and campaigns from designers such as Kenneth Hite, Robin D. Laws, Jason Morningstar, Will Hindmarch, Jeff Tidball, Adam Gauntlett, Graham Walmsley, Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, and Bill White.
You are among the few who suspect the truth about the mad gods at the center of the universe, about the Great Old Ones who dream of clearing off the Earth, about the extra-terrestrials who use mankind in their experiments, about the ancient legends of undying evil that are all coming true. You have to make sure nobody else ever finds out — or the world will wake up screaming…
Review Highlights
See the complete reviews to date here.
.…I was concerned that my traditional style of low prep freeform gaming would have trouble with the GUMSHOE clue system included here… I quickly discovered that this was not an obstacle at all, … it was very easy to constantly push new clues through different Investigative Abilities. In fact, I found that the game worked spectacularly well with this style as the nature of these Abilities encouraged me to constantly engage each of the players thereby resulting in a mystery that was continuously moving forward to its PC driven conclusion. My play experiences have been far more satisfying than I would have expected, though my group has largely avoided physical conflict whenever possible.
CW Richeson on rpg.net
Overall, this is a masterful melding of the Gumshoe system with classic Cthulhu Mythos gaming, an inspired match. There’s so much goodness in this that I’ll be back again and again, not just to play but to mine for ideas whatever I am doing.
Megan Robertson on rpgnow.com
By now it should be evident that I really love Trail of Cthulhu. I think it manages to capture the feel and style of HPL’s stories, particularly when played in Purist mode, with rules built to complement the stories. GUMSHOE is a perfect fit for investigative type adventures, and well-suited for a plotted out set of scenes. It also is simple enough to be run in a more “off-the-cuff” improvisational style and doesn’t require a great deal of prep on the part of the Keeper.
Michael Harnish on RPG Geek
…the section on the Cthulhu Elder Gods/Outer Gods is superb and packed with so many incredibly insane ideas for running plots it is hard to talk about it without waving hands around incoherently. One small sentence about Elder Gods as meme loads was so compelling it was a hot topic in my house for three days. If you’re into CoC at all, this is worth getting to juice up campaigns and take them to 11.
The Gumshoe system is an investigation-oriented one, and this orientation is well suited to many Mythos scenarios. We enjoyed playing our characters and didn’t have too much trouble picking up the system. I’d recommend it.
Duncan Hunter on rpg.net
This book is gorgeous; my copy is a lovely 248 page hardcover. Jérome Huguenin does a masterful job with art and layout. That art is consistent throughout– something not to be underestimated as a key to make a game feel complete … Worth buying for any gamer interesting in horror or Lovecraft.
Lowell Francis on rpggeek.com
With enough for everyone and a system flexible to have from a purely investigative adventure to a action fuelled Indiana Jones style game, if you like Lovecraft, you simply can’t go wrong with it
Paco G Jaen of G*M*S Magazine
Related Links
- Sample pages from Trail of Cthulhu.
- Resources for Trail of Cthulhu.
- See the complete reviews to date here.
A GUMSHOE roleplaying game of swords & sorcery!
by Kevin Kulp and Emily Dresner
When it’s summer, you smell her before you see her. As you come around the curve of the Serpentine river the scent of the open sea is replaced by the stench of low tide, of boat tar, of rare spices spilled from a smuggler’s ship; of cooking smoke and human waste. Bells ring out across the water and echo like the song of ghosts, loud enough to almost drown out the chanted prayers of your ship’s rowers.
You round the bend past the lower fort and there she is: the great city of Eversink, sprawled out on scores of islands across the sheltered water. Her jeweled and crystal turrets are reflected in a shimmering bay full of hundreds of brightly colored boats. Architecture from a dozen eras towers above a tangle of grand plazas and narrow canals. Temples to her goddess rise above the mansions and tenements, calling her people to prayer. She may be ancient and corrupt, slowly and inexorably swallowed by an endless bog; but she’s alive in a way most cities aren’t. She’s a melding of faith and stone and wood and water – and mud – that’s unique in all the world.
It doesn’t matter whether you’ve come to kill a rival, earn a fortune, learn a secret, or hire an army. You’re home now, and the Sinking City will embrace you. All you need to do is survive.
Swords of the Serpentine is a sword & sorcery game of daring heroism, sly politics, and bloody savagery, set in a fantasy city rife with skullduggery and death. The rules adapt the GUMSHOE investigative roleplaying system to create a fantasy RPG with a focus on high-action roleplaying and investigation inspired by the stories of Fritz Leiber, Terry Pratchett, Robert E. Howard, and others.
Your characters will discover leads that, if followed, propel them headlong into danger and forbidden knowledge. A lead might point the way to sunken treasure, jungle ruins, the missing key to a sorcerous trap, or the true identity of a notorious murderer. The GUMSHOE game mechanics ensure that you’ll always notice leads if you look for them. It’s up to you to choose which one you’ll follow into whatever perils lie ahead, in hopes of fortune, glory, justice, or just staying alive another day.
If you want to track down foul sorcerers in a corrupt and decadent city, clamber through underground ruins to sneak into an enemy’s home and rob them, or wage a secret war against a rival political faction, you’re in the right place.
Swords of the Serpentine offers:
- A fantasy city of mystery and magic inspired by Lankhmar and Ankh-Morpork
- Tools for fast and effective character creation
- A customized combat system that opens the door for cinematic, heroic battles
- Social combat that targets your enemy’s morale, letting you defeat some foes through wit, guile, and threats
- Sorcery that allows you to rip apart a tower with the flick of a hand—but are you willing to pay the price in corruption to body and soul?
- Powerful allegiances that give you influence in one or more factions across the city, but which can earn you equally powerful enemies…
- Streamlined abilities that power four distinct types of heroes, and which you can mix-and-match across professions to customize your character further
- Gameplay and rules mechanics that encourage players to help build the world they’re adventuring in
- Rules for death curses, true names, alchemy, sorcerous items, ghostly possession, political manipulation, and more!
- GUMSHOE 101 – Kevin Kulp’s helpful overview of GUMSHOE.
- Giving Out Clues in GUMSHOE – GM-facing advice on the most central element of a GUMSHOE game.
- How to Read the Rules – A quick start guide to Swords of the Serpentine.
- Three Things About Eversink – An overview of the more flavourful aspects of the Swords of the Serpentine‘s city setting.
- Exploring Bookhounds of Eversink – Kevin Kulp looks at five different ways you might set up a SotS Bookhounds game in Eversink.
- Strange Bedfellows: Manipulating Politics in Swords of the Serpentine – Kevin Kulp on the tools players can use to manipulate political factions.
- Social Combat in Swords of the Serpentine – Kevin Kulp explains the robust and fun social combat systems in Swords of the Serpentine that let you defeat a foe without laying a finger on them.
- The Cost of Corruption – Sorcery in Swords of the Serpentine – Kevin Kulp explains how sorcery is both narratively and mechanically expensive in Swords of the Serpentine.
- The Eversink Post Office – Emily Dresner with an article about The Great and Distinguished Eversink Guild of Letter Deliverers (aka the Post Office).
- The Iconic Hero: Fantasy Classics in Swords of the Serpentine – Kevin Kulp looks at modelling classic fantasy heroes, such as Robert E. Howard’s Conan.
- The Iconic Hero: Elric of Melniboné in Swords of the Serpentine – Kevin Kulp looks at two ways to play Michael Moorcock’s classic antihero.
- One-Hero Play: Two-Player Adventures in Swords of the Serpentine – Kevin Kulp on the changes needed during character creation for a one player, one GM game.
- Swords of the Serpentine guidelines – Collected guidelines Kevin Kulp and Emily Dresner used when writing the game.
- Why GUMSHOE for Swords & Sorcery? – Kevin Kulp on the match of system to setting in Swords of the Serpentine.
- Words of the Serpentine: Finishing the Book – Kevin Kulp on reviewing the print proofs and the home stretch.
- What Kind of Hero Are You? – Swords of the Serpentine has any number of ways to be a hero. Kevin Kulp looks at some of the options.
- Swords of the Serpentine Hero Generator – Matthew Breen’s online tool allows you to build a character from scratch, or randomly generate a starting template for inspiration. Export a finished sheet as a PDF, or create a short-form stat block.
- Four Heroes: Your Swords of the Serpentine source for pre-made heroes – Kevin Kulp’s short series featuring sample Heroes for each profession.
- Four Heroes 1 – Sentinel, Sorcerer, Thief and Warrior pre-generated characters.
- Four Heroes 2 – More Sentinel, Sorcerer, Thief and Warrior pre-generated characters.
- Four Heroes 3 – Six pre-gens, as used for The Dripping Throne adventure, featuring Sentinel, Sorcerer, Thief, Warrior, pre-gens along with two mixed profession preg-gens, Sorcerer / Thief, and Sentinel / Sorcerer / Thief.
- Download a blank character sheet for Swords of the Serpentine
- Download a blank character sheet in black and white for Swords of the Serpentine
- Download a blank character sheet with no background for Swords of the Serpentine
- Matthew Breen has designed some fantastic resources on his website:
- Swords of the Serpentine Hero Generator – Build a character from scratch, or randomly generate a starting template for inspiration. Export a finished sheet as a PDF, or create a short-form stat block.
- Adversary Builder – Create stat blocks for Adversaries and Monstrosities. Use existing Adversaries as a template, or start from scratch.
- Triskadane Deck – Deal a hand of cards to populate the Triskadane, Eversink’s secret ruling council. The membership of the council and their faction affiliations can help determine the political climate of the city.
- Name Generators – Generate names for people, professional societies, thieves’ guilds, and more.
- The Dripping Throne – An adventure seed for one or two game sessions by Kevin Kulp.
- Sin-drinker – An(other) adventure seed for one or two game sessions by Kevin Kulp.
- Rebellious Factions Part 1 – Kevin Kulp with advice, NPCs and adventure seeds using the first six of Swords of the Serpentine‘s factions.
- Rebellious Factions Part 2 – Kevin Kulp with advice, NPCs and adventure seeds using the first six of Swords of the Serpentine‘s factions.
- Eversink Villains – Over on her blog, Emily Dresner has a series of villainous ‘Sinkish NPCs, along with accompanying plot hooks:
- #01: Silvio Langella, Enemy of Stephanos Everywhere
- #02: Gaspar Bruni, Lord of the Hermitage Mailroom
- #03: Insanity Forrest, Mad Mage of the Sea
- #04: Ventura Rotunno, the Prince of Pants
- #05: The Cult of Vetyx, God of Riches and Honor
- #06: Clive the Barbarian Attacks!
- #07: The Nautilus
- #08: The Vampire of the Opera
- #09: The King of Harbor Approach
- Kevin Kulp runs Sots for ENWorld’s Morrus and Peter – PodBean link * YouTube link
- Kevin Kulp’s Twitter play-by-poll thread
- Twelve-Sided Stories’ Blades of Eversink follows the exploits of sellsword friends in the city of Eversink.
- Follow Commander Pulsar’s intrepid Denari’s Half Dozen on YouTube or Twitch
- Gnome Stew‘s Jared Rascher reviews SotS
- Zoar Game Geek‘s SotS review
- The Walking Mind – Rob Donahue’s SotS review
- SotS on RPG.net
- Twelve-Sided Stories talks with SotS writers Kevin Kulp and Emily Dresner
- Dicegeek talks SotS and giant shark movies with Kevin Kulp
The Roleplaying Game of Personal Horror
Fear Itself 2nd Edition plunges ordinary people into a disturbing contemporary world of madness and violence —and inexorably draws them into confrontation with creatures of the Outer Dark, a realm of alien menace. GMs can re-create all the shudders and shocks of the horror genre at their table, whether they use the game’s distinctive mythology or one of their own choosing.
Powered by the GUMSHOE investigative roleplaying system, Fear Itself 2nd Edition is ideal for one-shot horror games (where few, if any, of the protagonists are expected to survive), or ongoing campaigns in which the characters gradually discover more about the disturbing supernatural reality that hides in the shadows of the ordinary world. Will they learn how to combat the darkness? Or spiral tragically into insanity and death?
This edition features:
- Support for multiple different types of play, from bloody one-shots to mini-series and extended investigative campaigns
- Extensive advice for GMs on designing and running mystery games
- Revised psychic powers
- More monsters, plus detailed monster design rules
- Updated rules that draw from more than ten years of GUMSHOE development and play experience, to deliver the ultimate in personal horror roleplaying.
Fear Itself 2nd Edition also includes three sample scenarios—a one-night adventure, a mini-series, and a full campaign:
- The Circle: An experimental drug trial goes horribly wrong when one of your fellow participants disappears. Figure out what happened to him, or you’re next.
- Glass Beach Summer: The storm changed everything. We went home, one by one. And then we started to see them. We saw the monsters. At first, we thought the storm had brought them. It was only later that we learned the truth. The storm changed only us. The monsters were always there.
- The Dispatchers: No backup. No assistance. Just a voice on the radio in the night, asking you for help. In this campaign, unlikely monster hunters are drawn together by the mysterious signal. Can they survive their missions long enough to save themselves?
Read Gareth’s designer’s notes here.
People who bought this also bought The Book of Unremitting Horror, Invasive Procedures and The Seventh Circle.
You may also be interested in The Esoterrorists 2nd Edition, The Yellow King RPG and GUMSHOE Starter Kit Bundle.
A horrific supplement for The Esoterrorists and Fear Itself
By Dave Allsop and Adrian Bott
See a PDF sample of the Book here.
The Book of Unremitting Horror was nominated in the Best Monsters/Adversaries category of the Ennie Awards.
Introduction
Players in horror campaigns are a little too accustomed to the nightmares their characters face; even the most eldritch of tentacular horrors is less intimidating when you know exactly what it is, because your PC has faced it before.
New times demand new nightmares. This, therefore, is a book of horrors, not a manual of monsters. The horrors are nightmarishly intimate, often created from human vice, or let loose by human greed. They show us the ugliness that underlies reality. They are the crawling things under the rock of the everyday, sane world. Consequently, we’ve detailed our creatures in depth.
Each one has its own agenda, its own reason for existence and its own legend. We’ve made these creatures unusual, frightening and bizarre, yet sufficiently comprehensible that they players realize they are up against something intelligent, if inhuman.
The Book of Unremitting Horror includes thirty creatures each with:
- Diary entries, articles and transcripts
- A detailed description with behaviour
- The forensic clues left behind by the creature
- Details of their history and origins
- Their special abilities
- Their GUMSHOE system stats
The Book covers using creatures with The Esoterrorists background, and another includes detailed adventure hooks for use with that setting. There are also artifacts and new GUMSHOE abilities.
Finally, the book includes two full length adventures.
Using BOUH with The Esoterrorists and with Fear Itself
In Esoterrorists, you are a highly competent investigator, tracking down creatures of Unremitting Horror. You may risk injury, madness and death, but it’s your choice. In Fear Itself, you’re just a normal person, and the creatures are after you. Let’s take an example creature, the Sisterite. She hunts down vulnerable men online, arranges a date, then kills them. In Fear Itself, the adventure would start with your techie friend going missing. In Esoterrorists, you would be part of the OV investigating the work of a peculiar serial killer.
Reviews
The Book of Unremitting Horror is our most critically acclaimed. See the complete reviews to date here.
In my option The Book of Unremitting Horror is a must-have for any GM interested in running horror campaigns, regardless if he/she is using a GUMSHOE game or not.
Excellent, atmospheric and very printer friendly. As a fan of gory, disturbing horror I can’t recommend this book highly enough. As a gamer, these monsters will show up in most of the sessions I run, and what higher review can I give this product than that?
The Book of Unremitting Horror is based on the d20 Book of Unremitting Horror already released by Pelgrane Press Ltd, and contains duplicate material from that publication.
People who bought this also bought The Esoterrorists 2nd Edition, Invasive Procedures and The Seventh Circle.
You may also be interested in GUMSHOE Starter Kit Bundle.
Albion’s Ransom is a full-length campaign for The Esoterrorists.
This could be your toughest case yet. First up, get the girl back. Next, find out if the Esoterrorists are involved. Then shut down their conspiracy. Finally, just try to stay alive.
Little Girl Lost is an Esoterrorists scenario set in the UK, particularly Manchester & Derbyshire. It forms the first part of the two-part Albion’s Ransom sequence, though it is also designed to stand alone. The scenario revolves around a missing 18-year-old student, the daughter of a major figure in the Ordo Veritatis who also happens to be a highly ranked member of the FBI – a former field agent now funded to do research into counterterrorism.
The player characters are brought in to find her – partly as a favor to Van Rijn, but also because there is a risk that she’s been specifically targeted by the Esoterrorists to put pressure on her father.
The sequel to Little Girl Lost, The Worm of Sixty Winters is now available.
People who bought this also bought Book of Unremitting Horror, The Esoterror Fact Book and The Love of Money.
The Outer Dark Is Coming…
Only the Facts Can Save You…
And The Facts Must Be Suppressed!
Ripped from the secret files of the Ordo Veritatis, The Esoterror Fact
Book briefs you on what you need to send players into intrigue-filled
confrontation with forces of international terror bent on supernatural
apocalypse.
This 152-page player-friendly sourcebook for The Esoterrorists lays out the facts GMs and players have been clamoring for:
- Study the Operations Manual to master the procedures and protocols of the Ordo Veritatis, from recruitment to the veil-out.
- Examine Station Duty to get support for fixed-location campaigns in the world of Esoterror – it’s not just the OV facing the entities of the outer dark, it’s your friends and family.
- When monster hunting gets too hairy for ordinary investigators, call in the Special Suppression Forces to sweep ’em up. Pulse-pounding and reeking of cordite, this section includes both background material and optional crunchier combat rules for paramilitary GUMSHOE play.
- The Enemy rushes the freshest knowledge on the Esoterrorists into your players’ hands. Learn the
latest on suspected Esoterror cells, their personality types, financing and organization. - Unaffiliated Operatives profiles nine figures in the world of supernatural ops whose twisting allegiances may make them your untrustworthy friends – or troublesome adversaries who play outside the usual rules.
- Dread Locations explores eleven haunted places where the membrane between this world and the Outer Dark has grown terrifyingly thin.
- Hone your GUMSHOE skills with a quick dispatch of the latest GM Advice. Astute players, take note – this section can help you sharpen your game, too!
Covering everything from the membrane to magic, from electronic surveillance to evidence collection, the Fact Book is the Ordo Veritatis bible.
Review Highlights
See the complete reviews to date here
To put it mildly this book is a fantastic addition to The Esoterrorist product line. I honestly think that this might be one of the best supplemental books that I have read for ANY setting…it is that good.
The Esoterror Factbook changed all that for me. Now I “get it.” The first 39 pages really bring the setting into a better focus. Everything from case evaluation to the Veil-out is covered.
-Locnar
Read it before the Esoterrorists do!
People who bought this also bought Profane Miracles, The Love of Money and Worldbreaker.
Six months ago, Ordo Veritatis agent John Sheldon went off the organisation’s radar, following an emotional breakdown in the wake of losing his wife in a car crash. He held his sister, fellow Ordo Veritatis agent Caroline Sheldon, responsible for his wife’s death, as Caroline was drunk at the wheel that night. Psychiatric Metrics feared John went out to perform a solo mission to expose the heart of an Esoterrorist funding network he had uncovered in Amsterdam. The proposal for that mission had been shelved months ago due to its low probability of success.
When his body turns up in Amsterdam, evidently the sacrifice in an Esoterrorist ritual, the eye of suspicion turns on the rest of his team he left behind. Are they guilty by mere association, or are they innocent of his fate? They are given a chance to find out what happened to their friend and colleague, and in the process, clear them from any suspicion in the eyes of the Ordo Veritatis.
The Love of Money is an Esoterrorists adventure for 4-6 players from incredible GM and Pelgrane Crew favourite, Matthew Sanderson. It is designed as a single stand-alone adventure with pre-generated characters provided, but can be tweaked to accommodate integration into an ongoing campaign.
Read a review of Love of Money on rpg.net 10/10
Pelgrane Press is a venerable workshop of the dreadful and breeding terror by producing highly skilled adventures and supplements that contain just that – FEAR and PANIC – containing the best of what one’s own nightmares may conjure up.
People who bought this also bought Book of Unremitting Horror, Albion’s Ransom – Little Girl Lost and Profane Miracles.